In a day, how many hours do you spend surfing the internet? Some would say an hour or two, others may say 5 to 6 hours, some might even say they surf the internet 24/7. But have you thought about what you have been doing during those hours that you are online? What sites have you been visiting? To whom have you been talking and conversing with online?

Going online, we are bombarded with a lot of messages and all sorts of online content. Its volume is too overwhelming that we don’t actually know what to do with it. First, let me discuss how a message flows online.

It’s simple. Just remember ENCC: electronic, network, connected, control. A message is created by an individual and is made electronic via web postings. The message then goes to a network where other messages are posted. This particular network is connected to other networks that hold different messages. The individual who created the message now loses his/her control over the message because of the numerous links that were established.

After knowing how messages are placed and circulated online, we now ask ourselves: What do we do with the overwhelming volume of online content? You may not know that you are actually doing the following to the messages you encounter online:

1. Reading and validating

When we receive messages online, we usually browse through it for the first time. If we find it interesting, then we read its entirety. After which, we usually validate the received content through replying to the sender or looking for similar content.

2. Ignoring

This might be the most usual treatment to online content especially when it comes from unknown sources. If we see that we do not know the sender, we immediately discard the message without even browsing through it. If we have browsed through it and find the content uninteresting, we also discard it.

3. Sharing

In my opinion, sharing is the most valuable treatment to any online content. People share because the content is interesting, helpful, and practical. The concept of sharing online content paints a concrete picture of the idea of an online message entering a network and being linked to other networks with different messages.

Sharing online content can be done in three ways: (1) sharing the content offline through word of mouth, (2) sharing the content online through passing the content as it is, and (3) sharing the content online through passing the content but crafting it your own way.

However, not all online content can be shared. It depends on the person who will share, where the message will be shared, and who the intended message receivers will be. For instance, the message to be shared must be of the network’s and of the sharer’s interest and of the sharer’s needs and mood.

Sharing and the Organization

Sharing can be considered as the new kind of corporate talk. As the organizations adapt to the technological advancements, they should ask themselves: Does our messages/content provide meaningful value to our customers?

People had enough of you talking about your company. Now, it’s more about the public’s interest. Gone are the days when companies would talk and talk about their products. The consumer is now king.

The following are the things that the public consider as meaningful value:

1. Helpful

Online content that has meaningful value to consumers fulfills a need, gives solution to a problem, and promotes an individual’s betterment.

2. Educational

Online content that has meaningful value to consumers is something new for individuals to learn, something significant to individuals, something novel to individuals, and something that clarifies and validates their existing assumptions and beliefs.

3. Inspirational

Online content that has meaningful value to consumers is something that affects people in one’s network, something that moves individuals to action, and something that motivates an individual at the moment.

4. Entertaining

Online content that has meaningful value to consumers is based on the public interest.

It used to be medium is the message. Now, it is meaning is the message. How the public give meaning to the message define an organization’s processes.

Putting message in a bigger context, we will have figure below:

Clearly, we see the need for people and organizations to share; to share messages that are valuable to the public. As these messages are shared, people and organizations alike draw out meaningful value. At the end of the day, it is a give-and-take process, a win-win situation: organizations give value to its consumers’ voice by crafting significant messages for them, the consumers then appreciate the organization and in turn, make craft messages that honor the organization, and the cycle starts all over again.

Now, do you have something to share?

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Hello Pam! That’s an important code to remember ENCC- electronic, network, connected, control. Understanding the dynamics of how messages spread online is just like mapping out the cyber field and planting our communication tactics on the most strategic locations.

Keeping ENCC in mind shall give organizations an idea of where to place their messages and who to tap as vehicles of these messages. Likewise, businesses could start identifying the networks and online communities which they see could possibly have an interest on the product and service they offer. Then studying and observing these networks, their needs, decisions, and behaviors follow. When businesses have gone through these things, they can now invest on establishing a strong and lasting relationship with these people and earning their trust.